Strategy, Web Analytics and PPC Advertising

The Search Engine Optimization Value of Social Shopping Sites

2008-12-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you combine social networking with online shopping? You get Social Shopping. Social shopping happens on social shopping web sites that work like other social media sites except their focus is shopping. Product listings on these social shopping sites come from site users who recommend their favorite products.

Let’s look at two of the top social shopping web sites and explain how they work and how retailers are using them to promote their products and for search engine optimization purposes.

Kaboodle

Kaboodle is one of the most popular and fastest growing social shopping communities on the web. On Kaboodle people find products and recommend and share their finds with the community. They can organize their shopping lists, find people with similar style and share finds, get discounts on popular products and find best prices. Members of the community can create groups or join existing groups. In these groups they share advice, products and give each other feedback on product choices.

There are a several different ways retailers can use Kaboodle to promote their products and for search engine optimization. One way is to put the “Add to Kaboodle” button on all of your product pages. It’s really easy. You just add a bit of code. When customers click on the button that product gets added to their Kaboodle list which is shared with their friends and others on Kaboodle. Another way retailers can use Kaboodle is by creating a brand profile. You can customize your brand profile and highlight hot new products and special deals for the community and you can interact with members and engage customers and prospects in a conversation about your products. This is a win, win situation for retailers.

An additional way for your company to benefit from these shopping networks is to be an interactive member. Post your products but also make your own lists of products you like. Develop a network of friends and followers who will help generate the word of mouth advertising you are looking for.

ThisNext

ThisNext distinguishes itself as being the place to find and experience the best, most unique products on the Web recommended by its design-centric members. It offers similar type of functionality as Kaboodle: shopping lists, wish lists and your own homepage with your favorite products.

ThisNext allows you to setup a retailer profile where you can showcase your best products; members can promote your products through their social network and create friends who will promote your products to their friends. You can also put the “Add to ThisNext” button on every product page of your website like the “Add to Kaboodle” button. ThisNext calls the personal lists members create shopcast.

There are many other social shopping sites worth participating in for retailers trying to promote their business. Spend some time and get your products on these shopping sites. It’s free and can generate lots of valuable links to improve your search engine rankings and to increase your sales.

ArteWorks SEO Files Notice With USPTO Of Intent To Join Fight Against Approval Of 'SEO' Trademark

2008-12-03T16:32:00.001-08:00

ArteWorks SEO joins fight against an application for trademark which attempts to reserve the phrase "SEO" for use by a single individual "in all computer related areas" including "search engine optimization".

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) April 21, 2008 -- ArteWorks.net Inc., d.b.a. ArteWorks SEO, today filed its notice of intent to join the fight against an application for trademark which attempts to reserve the phrase "SEO" for use by a single individual "in all computer related areas" including "search engine optimization". ArteWorks SEO has put the trademark applicant, Jason Gambert, on notice of ArteWorks' intent to oppose the application through its submission to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) of a Request for 30 Day Extension of Time to File Notice of Opposition. ArteWorks SEO's request was automatically granted today by the USPTO.

The application which is before the USPTO and has been assigned serial number 77171330 attempts to reserve use of the term SEO to the applicant to the exclusion of all other parties. It appears the application contains deceptive information in addition to being a frivolous attempt to leverage an accepted industry term for the financial advantage of the Applicant Jason Gambert.

Among other things, Gambert alleges in his application that his "first use" of the term "SEO" was on or about February of 2007. ArteWorks SEO has been using the term SEO to describe its search marketing and search engine optimization services since at least March of 2004. Additionally, numerous web references to the term "SEO" have been found in the Internet archive and other sources dating back at least as far as 2001. These web references include but are not limited to archived Wikipedia pages and archived pages of numerous firms offering SEO services prior to Applicant's alleged "first use" of February, 2007.

"ArteWorks SEO, as well as numerous other entities and individuals, have been using the term 'SEO' to describe search engine optimization services for years prior to the alleged first use of February, 2007," stated Matt Foster, CEO of ArteWorks SEO. "The term 'SEO' has been around since the 1990s, and it is preposterous that any single individual would purport to claim ownership of the term. As leaders in the SEO industry, we are proud to stand up and fight against this bad faith trademark application."

At least one other organization, SEOMoz, Inc., has already filed a Notice of Opposition in the same case.

ArteWorks SEO has until May 25th to file its completed Notice of Opposition, or in the alternative request an additional extension of time.

About ArteWorks SEO:

ArteWorks SEO is an internationally recognized search engine optimization firm and a leader in the field of search engine optimization. For more information, please visit www.arteworks.biz.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Search Engine Optimization Firm ArteWorks SEO Ranked #1 SEO Site Audit Firm in the World

2008-12-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

ArteWorks SEO has been ranked the #1SEO site audit firm in the world by TopSEOs.com

AUSTIN, TX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ArteWorks SEO at http://www.arteworks.biz has been recognized as the #1 provider of SEO site audits in the world. The SEO company rankings published by TopSEOs is the trusted guide used by those seeking the best in the internet marketing and search engine optimization industry.

ArteWorks SEO is included in this list for its consistent performance and the superior services rendered to its clients. TopSEOs performs an in depth evaluation of the leading search engine optimization firms in the industry to determine their rankings. Numerous criteria are considered and clients of ArteWorks SEO were asked to provide feedback on their overall experience with the company as part of the search engine optimization evaluation process.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from topseos which affirms for us and our search engine optimization clients that the in-depth site audit we do is considered the best in the industry. These audits are extensive, we literally review all factors related to search engine optimization and internet marketing and develop a comprehensive strategy for the client,” said Matt Foster, CEO of ArteWorks SEO.

ArteWorks SEO site audits include interviews of key personnel, keyphrase research, competitive intelligence, reviews of on page code, specific page analysis, back end architecture, analytics and usability. Existing social media campaigns are reviewed and existing and potential sources of inbound link bait are examined. A report is provided which includes a comprehensive internet marketing strategy.

For the complete list of the Top 5 Site Audit Companies for November 2008 go to: http://www.topseos.com/rankings-of-best-site-audit-companies

About ArteWorks SEO

ArteWorks SEO, www.arteworks.biz, is an internationally recognized search engine optimization and Internet marketing firm headquartered in Austin, Texas with a satellite office in Seattle, Washington. ArteWorks SEO is ranked in the top 5 search engine optimization firms in the world by several different Internet marketing organizations. For more information, please visit http://www.arteworks.biz.

About TopSEOs

Since its introduction in 2002, topseos has been identified as an independent authority on vendors who supply internet marketing products and services ranging from the best search engine optimization companies to the best pay per click management tools.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Search Engine Optimization Firm ArteWorks SEO Ranked #1 Reputation Management Firm in the World

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

ArteWorks SEO has been ranked the #1 reputation management firm in the world by TopSEOs.com

AUSTIN, TX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ArteWorks SEO at http://www.arteworks.biz has been awarded the #1 rank on this month’s list of the Top 5 reputation management firms in the world. The monthly rankings list published by TopSEOs is the trusted guide used by those seeking the best in the internet marketing and search engine optimization industry.

ArteWorks SEO is included in this list for its consistent performance and the superior services rendered to its clients. TopSEOs performs an indepth evaluation of the leading search engine optimization firms in the industry to determine their rankings. Numerous criteria are considered and clients of ArteWorks SEO were asked to provide feedback on their overall experience with the company as part of the search engine optimization evaluation process.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from topseos which affirms for us and our search engine optimization clients that the work we do to protect their reputation is considered the best in the industry. We are successful at helping our clients restore their reputation after experiencing online slander and libel and they are very appreciative of our efforts,” said Matt Foster, CEO of ArteWorks SEO.

Online reputation management involves taking control, to the extent possible, of information appearing in major search engines about a business and/or its principles. It can minimize or eliminate the effect of online slander and libel, while at the same time maximizing the appearance of a company’s positive image and brand.

For the complete list of the Top 10 Reputation Management Companies for November 2008 go to: http://www.topseos.com/rankings-of-best-reputation-management-companies
About ArteWorks SEO

ArteWorks SEO, www.arteworks.biz, is an internationally recognized search engine optimization and Internet marketing firm headquartered in Austin, Texas with a satellite office in Seattle, Washington. ArteWorks SEO is ranked in the top 3 search engine optimization firms in the world by several different Internet marketing organizations. For more information, please visit http://www.arteworks.biz.
About topseos
Since its introduction in 2002, topseos has been identified as an independent authority on vendors who supply internet marketing products and services ranging from the best search engine optimization companies to the best pay per click management tools. In addition, topseos connects thousands of businesses each year that are looking for internet marketing services with those who provide it.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Marketing in a Recession

2008-12-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

The government has finally announced that we are in a recession a year after it started. Of course this comes as no surprise to most of us. Spending on Christmas gifts will be down this year as it should be. It sure doesn’t make sense to spend money on gifts that you may need to live on to get through this next year or however long this recession is going to last.

Consumers and businesses are cutting unnecessary expenses. Many businesses are looking hard at marketing expenses. Many are choosing to make drastic cuts here. Is this the best strategy? Are they shooting themselves in the foot?

A company looks hard at last month’s income statement and sees that sales are down 5% and utility expenses are up 10% from the same month last year. They expect sales and utility expenses to stay at these levels for the next year. They try to determine what they can cut out of their budget to reduce their expenses. They look at their marketing budget at 10% of sales and a light bulb goes off. - cut marketing expenses 5% and it can cover the loss of sales. Well will it? Do they know how much of their sales are generated by their marketing efforts? A lot of companies can’t and don’t really measure this. They increase their marketing budgets in good times and reduce them in bad times. Does this make sense though?

You would think that it would be more important to increase your marketing budget during bad times to try and pull in more business. Even if you have to reduce your margins you are still bringing in the sales dollars to help cover your expenses. Reducing marketing expenses can result in more of a decline in sales. Companies may need to spend the same amount in marketing or increase marketing expenses to keep sales at their current level.

It is important to track the results of marketing efforts closely during a recession to determine what marketing vehicles are producing the results you need. Pay per click advertising during a downturn in the economy is very attractive. It is the most affordable marketing available and the results are easily tracked. You can review your results at any time and change your campaigns quickly.

Companies should continue their marketing efforts during a recession and view it as an opportunity to gain more market share while many of their competitors cut back. Online marketing is an affordable alternative and can be very effective if managed properly.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Scary New 2009 SEO Reality Show: Personalized Search Results

2008-11-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

The SEO community is preparing for the brave new world google is unleashing on us with personalized search which should hit the big time in 2009. We have to move our clients away from a focus on rankings to a focus on relevant traffic resulting in conversions. It is the new SEO Reality Show that we all will be participating in.

Matt Cutts of Google recently said this "The challenge is not to pay so much attention to ranking, pay attention to traffic, pay attention to conversions and keep building good content and don't worry about 'can I show people that I rank number one for my trophy phrase.'"

Good SEO’s have been trying for years to move themselves and their clients away from a focus on rankings. It’s hard to do, for us and our clients. Rankings are an easily understood metric. Traffic is also an easy to understand metric on the surface. If you start a new SEO campaign and you start seeing a jump in traffic that can’t be attributed to something else than you assume the SEO campaign is working. Unfortunately, that’s only half of the equation. The most important metric is always conversions. What percentage of this traffic is converting? Of course, traffic is like sales, a game of numbers.

Conversions are easy to track for ecommerce websites. Service businesses have a much harder time tracking conversions from their website. Larger companies have call center staff documenting the source of every call. Did it come from a magazine the yellow pages or the website? Alternatively, different phone numbers can be used on the web site or each landing page and then analyzed to determine where the calls were generated from. Still this isn’t considered a conversion from a ROI standpoint. Sure it is great that the call to action on the web site resulted in a phone call. But did the phone call convert into a sale?

SEO’s will be forced to spend a lot more time reviewing web analytics to provide meaningful metrics to clients on a monthly basis. Most of us already do this but it will be hard to do for clients with small budgets. More of the budget will have to go towards reporting which will take needed dollars away from other SEO activities. Of course, reports can be setup to run automatically from Google Analytics but it is the analysis of this information which requires our expertise and time.

So, just to recap, personalized search is a huge change that every SEO and online marketer needs to understand. To understand how your website is doing you will need to review your traffic, activity, conversions and ROI because rankings are not going to tell you this. There have been a lot of Google Dances over the years. This dance changes everything.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Is Local Search Online or Print Yellow Pages Being Used More?

2008-10-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Search engines have become the most popular way for the average person to find local listings. It's great news for businesses because they can get listed on Google and Yahoo for local search for free. TMP Directional Marketing (TMPDM) recently released the results of their 2nd annual Local Search Usage Study. For the first time, according to the study, the first source used for local search are Search Engines with 31% of users but right behind it at 30% are the print Yellow Pages or White Pages. Last year’s study ranked print yellow pages first with 33% of users followed by Search Engines at 30% of users. The number of people using local search over the yellow pages will continue to increase. To me, it should increase for no other reason than to save trees. It’s ridiculous, particularly in large cities with huge directories, the number of trees that are cut to produce the paper for these directories.

Eighty six per cent of respondents said they have a print directory in their home. I must admit it is hard to imagine not having the yellow pages isn’t it? I have one right behind my computer monitor but I still go to local search on Google first. Habit or laziness call it what you will but I usually only resort to the print yellow pages when I can’t find it online.

For small businesses continuing to advertise in the yellow pages is a big decision. It is very expensive and doesn’t provide the metrics that online advertising provides to determine if it is working. It makes it really important to track calls to see how people are finding your business. Doing this can help you best determine your advertising choices next year.

All businesses with a local presence should put their listing in Google Local Business Center and Yahoo! Local. They can really generate a lot of leads for your business free of charge. The Google Local Business Center allows you to list your business on Google local/Google maps for free. Google Local also pulls results from Verizon Superpages and other trusted sources. If you are a service business working from home you can use a P.O. Box located at the center of the area you want to market to for your listing. You can also use Google Adwords to buy local ads on Google Maps. Yahoo! Local offers basic listings that are free. You need a physical address to list your business in Yahoo! Local however.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

A Real Web 3.0 Perspective

2008-10-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of definitions of Web 3.0 going around. As can be expected, everyone defines it from their own perspective. It occurred to me that defining it from your own perspective is a pretty darned good way to describe what Web 3.0 is because it will connect information for us based on its knowledge of us. Supposedly it will allow applications to work intelligently to understand the meaning (semantics) of information and then connect us with this information based on its knowledge of us. Web 3.0 will be defined by each of us based on the main benefit it is providing us. I think of it as providing efficiency to the vast amount of information available on the internet in web pages, social networks, forums, etc. Connecting and combining information we need and want and saving us all the time we spend doing it manually.

Amiad Solomon in his keynote “Semantic Web: Making Advertising More Relevant to Consumers” at the Web 3.0 Conference & Expo provided his definition of Web 3.0. He said "I believe the simplest definition of Web 3.0 is the monetization and commercialization of Web 2.0". This is a definition from his perspective, a definition from someone running a semantic marketing firm. Not that I don’t think advertising will quickly adapt to Web 3.0 technologies. I think se-mantic marketing has the potential to offer both the user and the advertiser needed benefits.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt defines Web 3.0 as “a different way of building applications. Applications are pieced together and are relatively small, the data is in a cloud and can run on any device, very fast and very customizable and distributed virally through social networks, email, etc.” These applications will make the user generated content that Web 2.0.created able to be personalized and managed more efficiently. Think of it as a personalized mashup of information coming from multiple places provided by applications that are intelligent enough to sift through it knowing our interests, history, etc. and presented to us in the format we prefer.

I guess we should figure out what Web 3.0 means to us and for us. It would be nice to understand Web 3.0 when it is happening, in real time, instead of not really getting it until Web 4.0 comes along and maybe not even then. Sometimes the light comes on and I think I get it but I know I am far from really getting it.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

An Explanation of the Semantic Web

2008-10-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today users drive the search for the information they are looking for on the internet. They may use Google as their search agent and review the first five or ten listings to get the answer, product or service they are looking for. The interactions produced by Web 2.0 type applications like social media networks have made it easy to interact with other people and bring a whole new dimension to our information search. The computers are the tools we use to get this information. We then have to interpret this information. The computers on the web don’t understand the content of the html documents they display, they simply display it.

The semantic web is about getting web computers to understand the semantics (the content) of the information they display. The goal is to make the information available on the web able to be interpreted by computers. This involves structuring the data by creating metadata that describes the meaning of the data. It is done with open standards so that any application can understand it and the data can be shared. The web becomes a database. Now it is more like a file server. It means describing things so that computers can understand the relationships between things. The semantic web will allow intelligent agents to work for you to tell you what you need to know based on their understanding of you derived from everything the agent knows about you: your past queries, your interests, the context of your past interactions, etc. The agent will then be able to act for you to gather information from multiple sources and present it to you. Think of it as the agent doing your research for you and then presenting this information to you in the way you like to see it.

An example of this is the CALO project. Just as the Defense Department created the first network of computers as the precursor of the internet called Arpanet the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is now working on a project to develop a personalized cognitive assistant under its Personalized Assistant that Learns (PAL) program. According to the project website “The goal of PAL is to create cognitive software systems which are systems that can reason, learn from experience, be told what to do, explain what they are doing, reflect on their experience, and respond robustly to surprise.” The goal is to develop technology that will have a lot of value for the military so there isn’t a lot of public information about the project. However, it should have far reaching effects on the development of the semantic web.

Today we have tons of information on the internet. Search engines allow us to query this information to find what we are looking for. Most people spend too much time trying to find this information. It seems productive compared to how we did it before the internet but making the web meaningful for computers will allow us to automate this process and increase our productivity. It’s the next generation of the Internet called Web 3.0.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Is Google’s Algorithm Changing to Consider User Behavior?

2008-10-08T12:20:00.001-07:00

Google realized early success in 1998 due to their focus on the relationships between websites to determine the rankings of results. Back then search engines ranked results based on the number of times the keyword being searched appeared on the page. By doing this Google was able to return more relevant results for users and the rest is history.

Naturally search engine marketers pay close attention to any new algorithm change made by Google to develop new strategies. There is a interesting article today on search engine watch by Aaron Shear called "Google’s Algorithm is Shifting". In this article Aaron talks about Google switching to a more logical algorithm which is based more on user behavior. He thinks some of the factors that will be looked at are site performance, bounce rate and links. Links, as we all know, are the key factor now. Aaron emphasizes the importance of the diversity of the links and where they come from in this algorithm shift. He suggests blogs, social bookmarking sites, social chat engines and Facebook as areas to target.

Who knows whether Aaron is guessing right? To me it makes sense to look at site performance and bounce rate. This will bring Google’s algorithm more in line with what professional SEO’s do. Good SEO’s don’t stop at getting client’s good rankings. They review site performance, bounce rates and conversions regularly. A lot of work is put into getting good rankings for a website to generate traffic and it is important to make sure that site performance and usability work to convert that traffic. It seems that it would also make good sense for Google to have their results produce conversions – idea being their results are giving users what they want.

Google should care about site performance and bounce rates to ensure they continue to return relevant results to their users. High bounce rates indicate poor usability or irrelevant results to the user. Sites with high bounce rates reduce the relevancy of the result. Slow site performance in itself causes high bounce rates so this is another factor for Google to consider in their algorithm. If these two factors are becoming part of the algorithm I doubt that they weigh heavily.

There are other search engines being developed using different strategies. Google needs to not only keep up with existing competition but continue to be innovative in producing results increasingly sophisticated users want. Users want to spend less time finding what they are looking for. Search engines need to make sure they do this.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Technorati Profile

Using Google Search for Everyday Essentials

2008-10-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Google offers so many things to users that it’s really hard to keep up. As an SEO I am constantly thinking about Google search but with a focus on getting good rankings for our clients. If you are like me (you poor thing) you put just about anything you might be looking for in the google search box and hope you will find the answer.

Here are a number of things I should have realized many moons ago and would have saved lots of time if I had. I’m wondering what the weather is like in New York City today for the opening day of SMX East. So I go to one of my most visited sites: http://www.nytimes.com/. I am rarely looking for the weather when I go to this site. Even though the area I visit the most: OPINION is right underneath the weather I have never noticed it until just now. It would have been much easier to just put: weather New York City in the Google search box. Voila! Its 62 degrees Fahrenheit and mostly cloudy in New York. I bet they don’t have Bar Harbor, Maine weather. Yep, they do, its 44 degrees and cloudy. I will definitely remember this feature and use it.

How about what time is it in Bangkok? It’s 1:54 am Tuesday and it’s now 2:54 p.m EST Monday. I will definitely use this as I can never remember what time it is in the central or rocky Mountain Time zones. It’s fast – a no brainer. And who knows we could get a client in Bangkok.

Do you need to make some quick calculations? Just enter your numbers with the proper +,-,*,/, = symbols and you get your answer. Don’t know the metric system – just enter what you want, say 2 liter in gallons, the answer is 0.528344105 US gallons. Having trouble remembering how to spell receive? Or even more trouble remembering the rule i before e except after c. Just type receive into Google and it will ask you “Did you mean receive”.

If you need a quick definition for a word just put define before the word. I got to thinking about someone I recently met, unfortunately, and the word pompous came to mind. Define pompous – grandiloquent (huh) - puffed up with vanity and a boastful manner (yep that’s him).

Local search is pretty cool too. You can find stores, restaurants and other local businesses by putting in the category of the business and the location. There are lots of other things you can find quickly too. It’s truly amazing particularly if you can get online with your cell phone. If you are wondering why I am writing about this because most of you probably already know this it’s for other people like me who can really benefit from knowing these little time savers that make everyday life easier.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Demographics in Social Media Network Marketing

2008-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

The marketing plan for any company includes the demographics of their target audience. Who they are trying to reach can be segmented out so as to allow for different marketing strategies for each segment. It makes more sense to advertise a product appealing to 18 to 24 year olds predominantly to 18 to 24 year olds. Social media networks are valuable marketing vehicles. The demographics of each social network should be reviewed to develop an effective marketing plan for each one.

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that the social networking sites MySpace and Facebook are visited most of the time by people between the ages of 18 and 24. Their gender breakdown is almost the same: 63% female, 36% male. Is this demographic the market for your product or service? If so, it could be very beneficial to develop a profile and actively participate in these communities. If you are not trying to reach this demographic it is still worth your time to develop a presence on MySpace and Facebook. There are still millions of users or 31% over 24 who are using these networks.

Once you know which market segment each social media network appeals to you can focus your message and profile to that segment. For example, Linkedin.com readers have the highest household incomes and are good targets for high-end or premium products or services. Propellor.com and stumbleupon.com have the highest percentage of over 65 visitors if this is the market you are trying to reach.

You can find demographic information on these social media networks on quantcast.com. Enter the domain name and it provides a summary of the U.S. demographics and a traffic summary. It tells you what categories visitors to that domain are also likely to visit broken down into: Communities, Photo/Video Sharing and Movies. It also shows what other sites visitors to that domain are likely to visit.

Reviewing the demographic information freely available to you enables you to determine if that community is a good fit for your message and if it would be a good use of your time. It also helps you enter and participate in these communities with the knowledge you need to interact appropriately. MySpace and Facebook have the most traffic and should be used. From there you need to determine what other social communities are worth your time to participate in. Marketing opportunities differ in each community in terms of how you will get your message out, be it with groups, blogs or other internal applications.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Social Media Marketing for Small Business Entrepreneurs

2008-09-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day why I have enjoyed consulting with small business owners for so many years. Talk about reality shows. What is more real than talking to the person who created, owns and operates a business? They have made their dream a reality. It’s a whole different conversation and level of engagement from talking to a marketing or business development manager working for a small or mid-size company. I don’t mean to imply that the marketing or business development manager knows less about the company’s business than the owner. It’s about the level of passion for the business. Passion or entrepreneurial zeal, as we know, doesn’t always translate into being able to run a company successfully but I love to hear their story.

I enjoy the initial phase of a search engine optimization or pay per click management campaign for any new client. We call this the discovery phase where we gather quantitative and qualitative information about a business to lay the groundwork for the project. The more we know about what they do, how they do it, who they are trying to reach and what their goals are the better we can develop and implement a successful online marketing strategy for them.

One big difference I notice almost immediately when talking to an entrepreneur is the desire to talk about their business. You never have to worry about keeping the conversation going that’s for sure. Entrepreneurs love to talk about their business. It’s their passion. That’s why they are doing it. Many businesses, if not most, are built based on the personality of the owner and more often than naught these owners have an outgoing, engaging personality. That is why social media marketing can be so powerful for small business owners.

Social media marketing is not just about creating profiles on facebook, myspace, linkedin and other social media networks to try to create buzz and links to your web site. It’s about being actively engaged in the networks. Let people get to know you. Be real. Tell them about your business, why you do it and how you do it. Not from a sales and marketing stand point so it sounds like every other Tom, Dick and Harry selling the same thing but from your personal stand point – your personality – let it shine through. Just a warning here, if you are a real drone with a negative view point on the world this might not work. :>) Find people with the same interests as yours and participate in their discussions. It has to be a two way network for it to work best.

Are you thinking how in the heck am I supposed to find enough time to do this plus run my business? This is a valid point but if done correctly this can reap big benefits for your business. Millions and millions of people are participating in social media networks every day. Instead of actively participating in 4 or 5 determine which one best fits your desired demographic and focus predominantly on that one. Also, you might really enjoy it. Just talk about your favorite topic – your business.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Enough Already About the Importance of Search Engine Rankings

2008-09-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Most search engine marketers are probably getting sick and tired of all this talk about the importance of search engine rankings. Web position gold and other automated ranking software stopped working for a time last month which fired up the discussion.

On one side are those that say SEO’s shouldn’t focus on rankings with clients but on conversions and revenue. The other side feels that rankings are an important focus, not the only focus, but a good measure of the success of SEO efforts for both the client and the SEO firm. Naturally, the most important metric is conversions. What good does it do to rank number one for a key phrase if it isn’t producing conversions for you, however you define conversions. However, you need visitors to get conversions.

I agree with the fact that the focus should be on conversions and revenue but you don’t have the opportunity to make a conversion unless someone finds and clicks through to your web site. Selling is a game of numbers, the more people you get your product or service in front of the better chance you have to make a sale (conversion). Online real estate is similar to offline real estate: location, location, location. I would much rather have 3,000 opportunities to convert a visitor because of a high ranking than 500 from a lower ranking. If I convert 10% of 500 visitors I make 50 sales. I only have to convert 2% of 3,000 visitors to make the same number of sales or if the conversion rate is the same I make 300 sales vs. 50.

We should always be educating our clients to not focus only on rankings. The focus is two fold. Number 1: Get them there. Number 2: Convert. Once search marketing efforts have accomplished the goal of getting the visitor to the web site through good rankings the goal is to convert the visitor. Analytics tell us what visitors are doing when they get to the site. If they aren’t doing what we want then analytics gives us clues as to why. Is it the landing page, site design, navigation or lack of a call to action or something else?

I wonder if those SEO’s who tell their clients not to focus on rankings but traffic and conversions are checking the rankings themselves. I bet they are. If you are bringing in lots of traffic from long tail key phrases isn’t this because of good rankings.

Search engine optimization professionals implement numerous strategies for clients to help achieve search engine rankings to attract valuable visitor traffic. Our clients hire us to make their online efforts successful. We need to not only layout and implement a strategy to accomplish this but let them know how their project is going. Rankings and conversions tell them this. Both are important for us and them.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Use Google Gears to Read Gmail Offline

2008-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Google Gears is an open source browser extension for IE and Firefox that allows web applications to be available offline. Gears in its current state offers minimal functionality for offline applications but the idea with it being open source is that developers will quickly follow with enhancements.

Google Gears caches resource files to make them available offline. Gmail users with the Google Gears extension installed are able to read their most recent messages offline. Google Docs users can edit their documents offline without a network connection. Google Gears enabled web applications will ask your permission before storing data offline so you don’t end up storing everything under the sun.

I just installed Google Gears. I am a gmail user and once I realized this would enable me to read my email offline I was hot to trot to get it going. I’ve got it now. Sure would have helped out at the airport between flights Labor Day weekend. I have been using gmail for my personal email for a couple years now. Prior to gmail I used Eudora. I forgot about the fact that I couldn’t read my email offline with gmail until the first power outage. When I realized this I was quite relieved that my work related email addresses were coming into Outlook which I could read offline. Now it’s not an issue with gmail with Google Gears browser extension.

Google Reader is the first Google application being powered by Gears. Google Reader organizes and manages all the content you are interested in reading. It automatically gets the news from your favorite sites through their feeds. You can organize the content coming in and even share things with friends from Reader. Reader can save you a lot of time if you go to all your news and interest sites regularly to check for updates. It will update the news and other content for you and it’s all in one location organized how you want.

I am looking forward to the many enhancements that will be created for Google Gears and love these developments that make the use of our main tool today easier.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Who's the Boss? Google or Microsoft

2008-09-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Lots of people are thinking that Google’s release of its own web browser Chrome is to steal browser market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and to hopefully eventually overtake Internet Explorer. Even more people see clearly the direction Google is going here. Matt Cutt’s, head of Google’s web spam team, makes no secret of his desire someday to be able to sit down at any computer anywhere in the world and have access to all of his applications. It would be pretty cool.

It’s the dawning of a new age. Microsoft created the Windows operating system, oh so long ago, which started their almost monopoly in operating systems, software, etc. Google seems to be trying to replicate this business model.

Google has Gmail for email. Google Docs for documents, Google Reader for news feeds, now Google Chrome for a browser and recently released Google Gears, a browser extension, allows web applications to be available offline. You can catch up on your email and news feeds when you are not able to get online. Google Gears is open source software and developers will be adding more valuable enhancements.

Review all the applications on your computer and visualize what it will be like to go to any computer and have Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver equivalent applications available to use. These applications might not have all the bells and whistles of your applications but enough to be able to do what you need to do and cache it on your computer.

In the operating system and software world Microsoft is currently the boss. In the search world Google is currently the boss. The question is who will be the boss if Google’s strategy to make the web the operating system and the applications you use available online.

Do you think Microsoft is worried? Do you really care? Competition is the best thing for the customer. It might be nice to feel like we are in charge again.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Should You Care About Google PageRank?

2008-09-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

It’s really too bad that Google’s PageRank was named after one of its founders Larry Page. A more apt term and less misunderstood term would be Peer Rank. PageRank was developed by the two founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and named after Page. Google search engine started as a project in graduate school at Stanford by these two. They developed the concept of PageRank based on their knowledge of publishing in academic journals. Professors get recognition and many are expected to publish in academic journals that are reviewed by their peers. A publication’s importance and ranking is determined by the number of citations from ranking journals it receives. PageRank was developed based on this concept. The peer review of a web site is the quality of the sites that are linking to it.

Google explains PageRank on the Google Technology page as: “PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages' relative importance. “

PageRank was created to provide more relevant results for search queries. Rather than allowing spammers to control the importance of a site by the number of links to it PageRank ranks the backlinks so that higher ranked websites linking to a site have more weight than lower ranked websites. This is Google’s way of determining the importance of a page.

PageRank is an important part of Google’s algorithm but only part of the equation. They consider many other factors in determining the actual rankings of a website for a key phrase. For example, choose a key phrase and review the PageRank of the top 10 serp’s. You will see that the rankings are not listed by PageRank.

Yes it is valuable to have inbound links from websites with high PageRank. It is even more valuable to have inbound links from websites with high PageRank that have a related topic. The number of links outbound from the website that links to another website also determines the value of a link. A high PageRank website with a related topic with only 12 outbound links is much more valuable than one with 50 outbound links. PageRank also looks at outbound links from your website. It is best to avoid links to low quality sites as this may have a negative effect.

PageRank is absolutely worth caring about. However, a far more important thing to care about is creating fresh, high quality content consistently for your website and links and improved PageRank should follow.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Google Chrome First Look

2008-09-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Google released it's own browser yesterday. It's called Google Chrome. It is very easy to download and install. It imports your bookmarks, passwords, and all other settings from either Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. You can opt to let it do all of this or you can customize the settings.

This is the first beta version of Chrome and the browser looks somewhat sparse if you are used to IE or Firefox. Google will be adding more functionality, bells and whistles to the browser. I kind of like this sparse look. Browsers have become so complicated with so many toolbars, etc. that sometimes I feel like the available space to view websites is minute. One thing I love right off is the placement of the tabs at the top. This makes it so much easier. The tabs look like folder tabs you have in your file cabinet. Just like your folder tabs in your file cabinet you can't see what is in them until you open it and the title is on the tab. The other browsers have the tabs underneath the toolbars which make it harder to focus on in my opinion.

The coolest thing is it uses one box for both the address bar and search. If you type your search query in the address box it will suggest popular sites, searches and pages you have already visited with your search term. I typed in my favorite team: Red Sox. It shows the Red Sox homepage, a couple url's from boston.com - the site I visit most frequently for Red Sox news, a search google for red sox link, 51 recent pages in history containing Red Sox (Ucho! Yes I am a fanatic) and links to articles about the Red Sox. I like this as I use the search box much more than I would actually type in an address.

The last thing I really like on this first cursory review is the ability to see your most visited sites on any new tab. You see thumbnails of your favorite sites and can quickly click on them. If you are like me you have your favorite news sites you visit every day, your favorite sports sites, etc. This allows you to see them and quickly decide if you want to visit them.

I will be writing more on Google Chrome but for now I have to give it a heads up. I like it. Am I ready to switch from my favorite browser right now? No.............but I will keep checking it out and it is definitely worth checking out.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Search Engine Rankings Software Not Working on Google

2008-08-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Many SEOs are feeling the pain not being able to automatically check search engine rankings in Google for themselves and their clients. Web Position and other ranking software have not been able to retrieve rankings from Google lately.

Has Google finally decided to ban this software, as suspected in the past? It’s well known that Google does not like automated queries of their database because of the amount of resources it uses and they would rather see these resources used by searchers. Google has to realize that even without automated queries there are an enormous amount of queries performed every minute by users not searching for information but checking their own rankings. I’m sure it’s not as vast as the automated queries but perhaps they should measure this.

Why doesn’t Google provide access to this information? They are opening up search volume numbers through the use of Google Trends, Keyword Tool and the new Google Insights. The information comes from a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains so they aren’t providing the real volume numbers. However, what they provide is great and very worthwhile for analysis. They could structure the rankings checker the same way. And they can monetize it!!!

The main reason Google would not want to do this is the fear of making it easier for SEOs, white hat or black hat, to figure out their algorithm and manipulate the rankings. Cmon Google – isn’t that your job to outsmart us and constantly be changing things to ensure this can’t be done. We can hope that Google will figure out an acceptable way for us to automatically check rankings just as we hope their system remains democratic and their rankings aren’t skewed toward Google properties like Knol.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Google Opens Another Door With Insights for Search Tool

2008-08-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last week Google launched a tool that many online marketers will find very valuable. They continue to open up their data for more perusal and I, for one, hope it continues. Google Trends, search volume information available with the external keywords tool and now Google Insights for Search Tool are all useful tools to assist in search engine optimization efforts.

Google Insights for Search allows you to enter a search term or terms and shows you a list of the top related search terms over time and region. It analyzes a percentage of searches on all Google domains worldwide to provide this information so it’s not giving you the exact number of searches. It allows you to compare results based on a scale of 0 to 100. The highest point, or most searched term, is 100 and all other numbers are in relation to this number.

Let’s do an example which will illustrate the power of this tool. We will compare LL Bean to Eddie Bauer. Which is more popular? What key phrases are people using? What region are these people from and what cities?

The graphs below show Eddie Bauer in blue and LLBean in red. Eddie Bauer has more searches over the time period from 2004 to 2008: 53 to 36. Notice the wide gap for 2004 and most of 2005. Eddie Bauer received a lot more searches during this period. Also notice the seasonal peaks during the Christmas season. LL Bean has been searched more often during the last three Christmas seasons. This shows that more people are probably looking to find LL Bean to purchase gifts during the holiday season.

Regional interest

The graph below shows what regions most searches are coming from. The top region for Eddie Bauer is Alaska, followed by Montana and Wyoming. The top region for LL Bean is Vermont, followed by Alaska and Montana. This makes sense as they are all states who purchase a lot of outdoor products. Notice that the red line shows the comparison of search term volume for each. This can be used to determine what regions are best to focus advertising efforts on to increase sales.

The next graph shows the top search terms related to Eddie Bauer. The top related search term is eddie bauer outlet.

The graph below shows the top search terms related to LL Bean. The top related search term is lands end.

Regional Interest Cities

The next two graphs show regional interest by city. As you might expect for Eddie Bauer the top city is Seattle and for LL Bean the top city is Portland, Maine. Notice Washington and New York in the first graph. LL Bean and Eddie Bauer are about par in these two markets which are large markets. Either one could use this data for a targeted marketing campaign to increase brand exposure in these markets.

LL Bean

These are just a few examples of the power of this tool. This is a limited example as these are two brand names. Explore the power of this tool in comparing two or more generic key phrases. You not only can see and compare search volume patterns across regions and cities, but across categories and time frames. You see search volume patterns plus the top related and rising searches. Google says that this new tool can help marketing and advertising users better analyze Internet search patterns. Google’s goal is to add more tools to allow adwords users to mine more of their data to further optimize their campaigns and hopefully spend more money.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Competitive Analysis: Online Competition Vs. Offline Competition

2008-07-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Who are your competitors? Most companies we deal with answer this question quickly. They will name three or four companies who they consider to be their biggest competitors. The competitors they name are almost always their offline competitors not their online competitors.

You might be thinking this makes a lot of sense in your world as SEO consultants. After all that is why companies are coming to you to figure out how to compete in the online world. And this is true for the most part. Occasionally someone will ask if we mean online or offline but not too often. We don’t qualify the question at the beginning by asking who their main online competitors are because we really need to know both: online and offline competitors. They are the best resource to tell us who their offline competitors are. We look at the online marketing activities of the offline competitors both to determine their level of online marketing activity and to compare their web site to our clients. We learn a lot from this exercise; good content ideas, key phrase ideas and deep linking opportunities to recommend for our clients web site.

Our research determines who their online competitors are. The first step is keyword research. We don’t start online competitive research until we know what key phrases we will be optimizing for. We then determine the top 10 websites they are competing against in Google, Yahoo and MSN for each keyphrase both in the organic listings and sponsored listings. We choose five competitors for both organic and sponsored listings based predominantly on this information after weighting of the results.

The major things we look at for each competitor web site are:

1) On page optimization – page title, meta description, keywords, etc.
2) Off page optimization – blogs, social media optimization, video optimization, etc.
3) Linking – the number of external links, quality of these links, etc.

The goal is to see what the competition is doing and determine the best search engine optimization strategies to implement to get our clients web site to achieve higher search engine rankings than their competition.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is
SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Change in Google Keyword Tool

2008-07-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Google has made a very welcome change in their keyword tool which until recently was only available to adwords account holders. They have made this an external tool which can be accessed at: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

The keyword tool now reports search volume. Previously it only showed bars next to the keyphrase showing search volume. There wasn’t any way to quantify this. It now shows numbers. Google’s adwords.blogspot.com states “you’ll be able to see the approximate number of search queries matching your keywords that were performed on Google and the search network”.

This is big change for a couple of reasons. Google has always been very private about sharing search volume numbers so this is a major policy change. Another reason is to have real search volume numbers even if they are approximate. The two other keyword analysis tools used predominantly by SEO’s are keyword discovery and wordtracker. Both of these tools estimate search volume and the big unknown has always been the accuracy of these estimates because they only gather data on a small percentage of the actual searches being done. A guess is being made based on these estimates.

Google commands about 78% of the global market for search right now. It has access to a huge amount of data on real searches. Now that the external keyword tool shows search volume internet marketers for the first time have real data to base their keyphrase decisions on. This information can be used to drive organic or pay per click search campaigns.

It is too early to determine the accuracy of the approximate number of search queries the tool is reporting. There is a lot of skepticism as to google’s motives for the unleash of this data. Time will tell how it changes how keyword research is performed and how it will effect the two major paid keyword research players: Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker.

Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.

Holistic Search Engine Optimization

2008-01-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

Internet marketing with all its bells and whistles fundamentally is not that different from other marketing avenues companies pursue. Yes, the implementation strategies and vehicles are different but they both should adhere to principals learned in Marketing 101. Who are you trying to reach? Is it the 30 year old male or the 75 year old grandmother? Or both?

Defining your target audience is second only to defining the goals and objectives of your site. Is your goal to share information and create a community? To establish or strengthen your brand? To sell your products? To sell your services? To become a knowledge portal with several different monetization strategies? Ample time spent in strategic planning lays the foundation for your web site. Combine your goals and objectives with your market research to identify your target audience, do your keyword research and then design your web site to make sure you are reaching this audience and enticing them to do what you want them to do while they are there – buy something, fill out a contact form, call you, etc..

Search engine optimization encompasses many strategies to improve the amount of traffic you are attracting to your web site. Getting this traffic to your web site is one step in the process. You don’t benefit from these efforts unless you are converting these visitors.

Do you have a good user experience on your site? Do people easily understand how to find what they are looking for – quickly? It’s all about quickness, blink and they are gone if your site isn’t instantly understandable. Can they get to what they want within three clicks? Is the design of your web site appealing to your target audience? Are you targeting the right key phrases? Is the code on your pages optimized for these key phrases? How about the back end architecture – is it optimized? Do the search engine bots find your site easy to index, easy to understand? Are you asking for the sale? Appropriately? Do you know what your visitors are doing on your site? How many come to your home page and go no farther? How many pages on average do they look at? Which pages have a high bounce rate – meaning the percentage of visitors that bounce from a page – not converting?

A broad, holistic approach to SEO looks at all aspects of your web presence integrating strategy, design and implementation with seo best practices to accomplish your goals.